Swan Queen Prompt-AU Week Day V- Evil Emma!
by Heligena
Summary: So it's day 5 of SwanQueen AU Week on Tumblr- Evil Emma Day! And I thought I'd celebrate with a brief impromptu fic. BIG RED FLASHING WARNING: Set after returning from Neverland it's extremely dark and there's both sexual threat and attempted rape included so please heed the warning if that's not your thing. Also massive apologies to anyone who read before the full warning went up
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So it's day 5 of SwanQueen AU Week on Tumblr- Evil Emma Day! And I thought I'd celebrate with a brief impromptu fic. **

**BIG FLASHING WARNING SIGN: Set after returning from Neverland it's extremely dark and there's both sexual threat and rape elements contained in the story so heed the warning and big apologies if that's not your thing. Anyways, onwards friends...**

NO GOING BACK:

Emma stared intently at her hands.

There was something different about them.

Not visually. Or at least not that she could see. The small crescent scar from tripping over and putting her hand straight through a greenhouse panel winked at her with a white smile.

The smattering of freckles splayed out across her little finger hadn't moved either. There was no change in their constellation.

But something had changed.

Ever since she'd joined Regina in using magic in Neverland, forcing their two powers to meld together after a year of fighting against each other's influence, nothing had felt quite same.

Not bad exactly.

Not bad at all.

Just looser. Freer. Liberated maybe.

As if she was less harassed by that old familiar anxiety every second of every day.

Emma glanced again down at the hands wrapped around the tumbler, her face so screwed up with concentration that she didn't hear the clip clop of square heels edging towards her.

"Isn't it a little early in the day to be wasting police time and money, Sheriff Swan?"

Emma rolled her eyes at the familiar grating tone. "Isn't it a little early in the day for your particular brand of wit? There's a lot of milk around here and Granny's not gonna be thrilled if you curdle it with your mere presence."

If she had been a different kind of woman, Regina's jaw might have dropped at the unexpected level of ferocity in the blonde's voice, especially after they'd been so successful working together lately but the sad truth was she'd had enough practice in her miserable life to keep her face neutral at times like these. In making sure it remained impassive and aloof.

She was the queen of it you might say. So she didn't respond to the childish jibe.

In fact it was only the muscle twitching in her cheek that gave any sign she was feeling anything at all.

And after all a former royal couldn't feel anything as pathetic as hurt anyway.

That's what people around her would say.

"Have you been drinking?" she said with acidity. "Because let me tell you that is no solution to personal proble…"

The blonde finally swung around to face her.

"No Madame Mayor, I have not."

Emma dragged herself to her feet and stood toe to toe with the impeccably dressed brunette, her nose hovering about an inch above the others. "And trust me, there's not enough alcohol in this town to solve my 'personal problems' so why don't you do me a favour and back off for once."

Slamming her glass down on the counter, Emma ignored the shocked stares of Ruby and Granny as she slid her jacket over her shoulders, striding past Regina without another glance. In fact it was only as she started to step off the sidewalk that she felt a hand hook itself around her elbow and drag her away clumsy from the road.

"What the hell are you doing?" groused Emma as she saw just who the hand belonged to.

The brunette glared at her. "What was _that_?"

Emma returned the gaze with a languid shrug. "Hey, youwanted me to get back to the high octane life of those that serve and protect so…"

"Be quiet Miss Swan!"

Pinching her fingers painfully against the fabric of the Sheriff's jacket Regina held her immobile and gritted her teeth as she forced herself to siphon the anger out of her voice.

"Look I know it's been a bit of a culture shock being back here after…after that… place but you need to know that I will not tolerate you talking to me in that manner. I am still your boss and…"

"Boss!" spluttered the blonde. "What exactly are you the boss of anymore, Miss Mills? Your townsfolk think you're the devil incarnate which isn't that outlandish since you basically stole their souls from them. You rescued your son from _that place_ as you call it, an absolute freakshow of an island and he'd still rather live with me and leave you to sit alone in your big shiny characterless mansion quaffing apple cider until oblivion comes!"

Taken aback, Regina jerked away as if she'd been slapped.

But unfortunately Emma wasn't through and had no intentions of stopping now. She'd barely felt this good in... years.

Drawing herself up to her full height, she poked a finger into Regina's chest.

"No seriously, tell me how exactly you're _our_ superior? You've wasted a whole life trying to belittle, scar and ruin my mother for a stupid mistake she made when she was a girl and here she is, wandering around your little safe haven with a pixie cut and the same old compassionate heart..."

"I...Why are you saying these things?"

Emma grinned at the surprising ineloquence, enjoying the momentary advantage.

"Because I can! Because I'm not a kid anymore, you pretty much saw to that and as a result... I don't have to be amenable and considerate to everyone around me on the off chance I might hurt somebody's feelings and they'll have a little cry inside. They're living breathing people not characters in a book for Christ's sake." She turned round and faced the street, raising her voice. "And I'm not an interloper anymore, I'm a full blown member of this town and I refuse to...to acquiesce like I used to every time some drama arrives. It's tiring keeping all these things in and it's tiring even thinking about it." She cocked her head at Regina's wide eyes. "And yes I do know what acquiesce means, thank you very much."

She breathed out hard, stiffening as she realised the Mayor wasn't listening but scrutinizing her at close range.

The older woman even looked a little unsure of herself there for a moment. But that couldn't be right could it?

"Look Emma," said Regina then, hesitantly. "I don't think you're..entirely well. Maybe the magic was a bit much for a beginner, I'm not certain. It's been such a long time since I...since I started out on that journey. Perhaps..." she reached out a hand, "...we should take this somewhere a little more private."

"Jesus!" Emma threw her arms up with defiance. "I'm not sick Regina, you can't lock me away from prying eyes." Cupping her hands around her mouth she began to shout up to the overlooking windows in the buildings above. "Perhaps we shouldn't go somewhere more private! Perhaps the people in this weird little town need a dose of the truth to chew on! How do you feel about that, folks huh?!"

And that was it. The moment when Regina saw someone standing in front of her she'd never seen before and made the only decision she could; her emotions overruling her usual stoic logic. Grabbing Emma's body and pulling her towards her, she conjured up her magic as quickly as she could.

Within seconds a purple cloud engulfed them and suddenly the blonde found herself standing in the well lit study on Mifflin Street. Instantly, she jerked herself away from the other woman, her face red with fury as she motioned to her new surroundings.

"What the fuck Regina, don't ever poof me again without my consent! That's basically assault."

The brunette didn't respond - simply took a step away, her hands held up in a gesture she wasn't sure she'd ever made before. One of submission and placation.

She didn't know what else to do though; she'd never seen Emma so riled up before; the blonde could barely focus her eyes on anything for longer than a second and her pupils were obviously dilated.

"You need to calm down if you can," she said softly, trying at the same time to hook those green eyes into hers. "You're not acting like yourself."

"You should be pleased about that… being as you've always been the poster girl for my assassination squad."

The older woman almost shuddered at the memory. Though she didn't of course.

"Things change. People change."

"Do they?!" Emma let out a dark laugh that died in her throat, her hands migrating to her hips. "Speaking from experience are we Your Majesty?"

In fairness to her, the Mayor didn't dignify that barb with a response either and let the fact that she was standing her ground make the point well enough.

Emma wasn't oblivious to the message either. Her eyes narrowed after a second.

"Can I at least have a drink if you're going to be my host slash gaoler?"

And apparently it was the older woman shaking her head that proved to be the final straw.

A guttural yell broke from Emma's throat at the denial and she charged forward, using her momentum to push the brunette back, the older woman's heeled feet teetering as she was unceremoniously shoved against the teak bureau standing against the wall.

"What are you doing…" was all she could get out before an arm was pushed up against her throat. Hard.

With wide chocolate eyes trained on her face, Emma leaned a little more weight onto her arm, newly appreciating how Regina's face tightened at the motion.

"I'm doing…what I want, Madame Mayor." Came the purr. "That's all I'm gonna do from now on because I've earned it putting up with your and everyone else's Saviour bullshit for the last year. I've done the selfless thing and now…" she leaned in to the point where her lips hovered within an inch of Regina's, "it's all about me and my wants and needs."

She felt more than heard a breath hitch in the chest underneath, through the fabric between them and it caused her green eyes to gleam, as Emma seductively leant down and pressed her lips onto those opposite.

Gently at first. Exploratory.

Then harder. With more pressure.

Feeling her prey stiffen at the contact, an intoxication combination of hesitation and guilt playing all over that beautiful face, Emma bit down hard on Regina's upper lip eliciting a long drawn out groan from the woman, though she couldn't tell if it was from a sense of pleasure or pain.

She didn't particularly care either.

Instead the blonde gave a loud chuckle. "You want me too, don't you Your Highness?"

What could Regina say? Frozen in a combination of shock and some other emotion she couldn't even bring herself to identify, the Mayor tried half-heartedly to push her aggressor off her but Emma was physically much stronger and she knew it. The Sheriff simply moved closer until their bodies touched at half a dozen separate points, the heat between them a tangible thing.

She had to stop her though. And so she forced her own scratchy voice to make some kind of sound.

"Miss Swan…Emma…don't do this…please. Think about what it would do to your mother. Henry."

A snort erupted next to her.

"Don't you get it? How good it could be. We don't have to have any secrets between us anymore," Emma whispered as she began nuzzling at Regina's neck, inhaling her unique citrusy scent. "We can feel how we _want_ to feel. Without judgement from anyone. My mother and the kid included." Poking her tongue out, Emma ran it slowly up towards the darker woman's ear, tasting her skin as she went. It was salty and clean, reminding her of past conquests.

Regina's bones felt like water however and she had to fight to keep her feet as she felt Emma's wonderfully warm mouth move lower again. The problem was, as incredible as the ministrations felt... she also knew she was losing the battle for the blonde's soul with every second she allowed this to happen. With every selfish nerve ending that fired at Emma's touch.

And it was that thought alone that gave her the strength to move. To act.

To try and save the Saviour.

"No!"

Shoving the blonde as hard as she could, Regina breathed out in hard gasps as she ran a hand through mussed hair, glaring at the woman across from her.

"No means no Emma."

"But you want it. I know you do."

"Whether or not I want this to happen is irrelevant. If we were ever going to end up together it wouldn't be like this. It wouldn't be some seedy clamouring moment fuelled by god knows what kind of dark force. There would be talking and drinks and…" she faltered as she'd never actually given much thought to the logistics of that particular hypothetical situation. Her tone softened though as she looked at the younger woman. "I don't know…something from this world, something real and breakable. So at least for now…this isn't happening, ok?"

Both women paused for a second at the scale of what Regina had just said but then Emma swallowed hard, her enlarged pupils trained on those opposite, boring into them with something turbulent and intense locked inside.

The Mayor forced out a cleansing breath and pointed towards the door, "Perhaps it's time you went..."

"No."

"I'm sorry?" replied Regina with a frown.

Emma's face blazed in the reflected yellow light of the room. "No, it's not ok."

Stalking forward again she grabbed Regina's thin shoulders through her blazer and bared her teeth. "This is my time and you're not going to take anything else away from me. Not anymore."

She gripped tighter and spinning her round, shoved Regina back into the centre of the room, giving her another hard push until the brunette lost her footing and fell backwards heavily onto the cream chaise longue. Losing a shoe in the process.

"Emma don't do this…"

The plea came out of the older woman's mouth unbidden, panic etched into her face but Emma was already moving, already lost in her own desires and brought her full weight down onto the brunette's hipbones, grinding them together as she sprawled across her target's prone body.

"Begging never suited you Madame Mayor, don't lower yourself by doing it now."

"Emma, please…"

Clamping a hand over the lips she'd kissed just a minute ago, Emma whispered a brief incantation she'd learned from Rumplestiltskin back on the island, rendering the Mayor completely mute though her mouth still moved in silent appeal. In some kind of soundless cry. The brunette's initial sense of denial slowly being overwhelmed by something closer to dread.

Finally satisfied that no-one would hear her, the keyed up blonde moved her right hand down and brutally ripped the front of the satin shirt that covered Regina's chest, her eyes growing wild and lustful when she took in the sight of her black laced bra. Clapping to herself like a child at Christmas, she leaned down and kissed the flat plane of her abdomen, pressing the struggling stomach muscles back down as they rebelled.

She looked up only once more to catch the Mayor's eye.

"Don't worry Regina, you'll thank me eventually," she murmured, her gaze drawn instantly back to the body laid out for her pleasure.

Then she waved a hand, causing the lights to go out in an instant, bathing the room in thick oily darkness. The only visible reflection coming from the whites of the two women's eyes.

"Just relax," she mumbled as she viciously slid her hand underneath the waistband of the Mayor's trousers and pulled at the thin fabric keeping her from her goal. "It's only the first time that'll hurt…"

It was all Regina could do to squeeze her eyes shut as she felt Emma's fingers move lower, probing, searching her skin for the secrets she'd never given up to anyone before. Struggling to breathe. Struggling to keep the tears from coming.

At what they were both about to lose.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Got some awesome feedback on the oneshot I did for the last SwanQueen week so I thought I'd write a second part to my Evil Emma entry. Also it was originally set just after everyone returned from Neverland but what with the Snow Queen story in full flow at the moment and Emma's problems controlling her magic, it seems a weirdly fitting time to come back to this tale! Please let me know if you want more...with all the stuff I've got on my to do list, your lovely reviews are the only way it'll happen! PS. Once again there's dark themes, sexual threat and all manner of badness contained within. Skip it, if that's not your bag.**

**EVIL EMMA PART II:**

"You like it, don't you?"

Even with the lights off Regina didn't need to see Emma's face to know she was grinning.

"Relinquishing control? It makes you the victim for once, doesn't it? Makes you one of the good guys. "

The granular tone of Emma's voice sent hot shivers through her system and Regina fought the urge to snarl and snap her teeth at the hand covering her mouth. It was so unlike the blonde's usual good-humoured lilt that the sound of her voice right now scraped at the base of her brain, sending alarm bells off with each syllable.

And her hands...

Her hands were everywhere. Not in a good way either but insidious and reaching as if the skin they skirted along wasn't enough, they wanted more. They wanted to go deeper and claw down into the darkest recesses of her bones with the talons visible to no-one but her.

Regina struggled again twisting her spine until it almost turned back on itself but the blonde's hold was unbreakable; as all things seem to be that are fuelled by selfish need. She recognised that kind of desire well enough by now... and yet...even after everything that came before her current life, everything that Leopold did to her, everything that Rumple branded her with, none of her tormentors ever had the sheer physical strength to hold her down against her will. They had been manipulators at best, puppet masters wielding convention and rage rather than brute force because their grip was too weak to hold anything more. But not Emma. Not now.

Her face in the shadows and darkness was taut and her eyes...

God, her eyes were tar-pits. Oily and incendiary.

"You know what this makes me Regina? Everything I'm doing now? I'm your Redeemer. I can do anything I want and it will make you a better person." She whispered.

And hot tears crept into brown eyes at the angry superiority painted across pale skin an inch above her

"Emma please I..."

The silent words splintered on Regina's tongue and dug into the pink muscle. She wanted to ask her to stop. Desperately wanted to demand she get the hell off her this instant but even as the sentence coalesced inside her brain, shards of memories came too, stippling its wake like a comet. Wattle homes she had burned to the ground. Blood covered face streaked with gore. Screams wispy as fog hovering an inch above flattened soil. She'd been responsible for all of that and a hundred other atrocities in her time- marring the skin and soul of anyone who'd dared stand in her way so how could she, the owner of such a blackened heart ask for any mercy now?

Especially from the one person who'd always offered it to her without charge?

Forcing herself to stare upwards, the Mayor clenched all her muscles as a palm was placed heavily on her hip pushing it down, a skittering mass of nerve ends firing at the touch, part pleasure part pain. And clarity hit her then square in the temple.

She knew what she had to do. For her. For Emma.

For both of them to get through this nightmare.

_Do it_. She thought desperately. _Let it out._ _It's the only way._

Her body stopped resisting at the same time as the thought tripped through her brain and she finally gave herself up to the blonde's touch from head to toe. Willing and compliant.

Offering herself up to the blonde as penance.

As if by magic though, with those words unsaid and the soft agreement made everything changed. Shadows danced around the room as the light puttered back into life and the Sheriff looked down at her as if she'd suddenly been stung by some insect- part confusion part horror, wholly unsure where all the new sensations inside her body were coming from.

That familiar long hair hung lank around her face as the lines slackened and she stared first at her captive then down at her own hands that hadn't moved or lost their pressure on the body underneath.

"Re...Regina?"

Thrown by the abrupt change in atmosphere, the older woman could only watch as a viscous black leached from the eyes suspended above and she found herself mesmerised by the recognisable sea green that replaced it.

Funny, she'd never associated colour with emotion before. It was a child's game that Henry had tried to get her to play along with when they'd visited the aquarium pool one summer afternoon but now...lying on the plush cream carpet of her own study, the sight of that achingly familiar jade above cut through her breath in an instant.

"Oh my God", whispered Emma with shock, drawing her hands back as she tried to get to her knees.

But before Regina could bring herself to move a muscle and start some kind of damage control, she felt her voice returning and took a moment to clear her throat to test it.

Her heart beat faster as her own familiar sound hit her ears.

Then she burst into action. With enough wherewithal to drag the hem of her dress downwards until it ghosted her knees she pulled herself up shakily, reaching out to try and keep Emma from bolting.

"Emma it's ok..."  
>Wide emerald eyes greeted her. "What about this is even remotely ok?!" She couldn't seem to help herself, her gaze was drawn downwards to the brunette's stomach and Regina instinctively pulled her shirt down to cover the band of flesh still on display.<p>

"Magic is a tricky creature. Once we accept its gifts, you have to accept that it needs to be released as well," she said softly trying to bury the new found self consciousness prickling at her skin.

"That wasn't a release Regina, that wasn't even a control thing it was..." She trailed off averting her eyes. "I wanted to hurt you. .. Humiliate you just so that I could feel...strong." The green of her eyes was suddenly diluted with unwanted tears and she tottered backwards away from the hand in front of her. "Who does that?!" she asked hollowly.

"People."

Somehow the Sheriff managed to look at her askance even through the vortex of her building panic. "What people?! Serial killers maybe... not people with a soul."

It was barely there but the briefest of flinches worked its way down Regina's spine in response to that and Emma felt a ball of nausea jump in her throat as she suddenly realised what she had said.

"I didn't mean...I wasn't talking about you..."

Regina offered a grim smile. "No-one ever is when we're face to face. Unfortunately words don't lose their meaning just because they're said behind closed doors."

"I have to go. I can't do this."

"Emma!" Reacting in a surge of pure dread, the older woman took a step forward and clamped her wrist down on the forearm in front of her. "Running won't help you. Trust me I know. It didn't help me when I absorbed the magic from the well; all it does is build a barrier between you and the ones trying to aid you."

"And that's what you are, is it? Someone who wants to help me?!" Emma gave an anguished laugh. "The Evil Queen, scourge of all the realms wants to play therapist for her nemesis? How stupid do you think I am. Actually don't answer that..."

She sunk her nails into the tan flesh causing Regina to yelp then stumbled away from her, away from everything heading towards the door with just one basic instinct trammelling her mind. To get away. To get somewhere safe.

Away from the people she loved and the things she might tear down without meaning to.

Breaking into a run, she sped towards the entryway.

She was almost there. Almost at the door when all of a sudden to her complete terror it swung closed in front of her with a loud bang.

Her legs stopped dead as she stared at the offending fixture before she turned back to find Regina standing where she'd left her with arms crossed and a new expression etched on her face.

Defiant. Compassionate. Or some uncomfortable ground in between?

"What are you doing?"

Regina barely moved. "Repaying our debt."

"There's no debt Regina!" Yelled the blonde with blind panic. "And if there was, backing a crazy person into a corner is no kind of payment!"

"You're not crazy Emma."

The younger woman breathed out hard as her eyes scanned the room for other means of escape. "Maybe. But I'm starting to wonder if you might be."

If she had been paying attention she would have noticed the half smile ghosting across Regina's face. "You wouldn't be the first to wonder."  
>"Open the door." Said Emma as steadily as she could.<p>

"No."

"Open the door. Right now."

An eyebrow flicked upwards. "Or what?"

Emma blinked at her, her attention fixed firmly back on the other woman. "I guarantee you don't want to find out."

"It would seem that I do."

Regina said nothing more but the brief flash of unease in her eyes warned Emma that she was putting on a front, trying desperately to keep Emma from heading off into the night where the shadows would take her over completely. The blonde was impressed by the level of bravado emanating from the woman in front of her, grateful even in some unconscious furrow of her brain but suddenly that dark fury she'd felt earlier began to coil around her stomach again and her body straightened in response.

"I'm going to ask one last time Regina, open the damn door."

The brunette tilted her chin upwards. "Not happening. Not until you let the darkness out."

A lightning bolt of fury flickered up Emma's gut and into her fingertips in response to the the blatant denial. Throwing her hand outwards she watched as the portrait of the other woman hanging above the fireplace exploded into flames; grey and sulphurous flares licking the canvas that left small droplets of melting oil dripping onto the marble surface.

And she smiled coldly.

"Is that _really_ what you want?"

The mayor hadn't moved but her eyes had widened at the immense power that flew from Emma's hand. Watching her own face pucker and liquefy a few feet away she returned her gaze to Emma slowly.

"Do you feel better?" she asked tentatively.

"A little." Smirked Emma. "But I think marring the real thing might be more...therapeutic."

Regina took a tiny step backwards then. "Emma, you need to listen to me..."

"Oh I think I'm done listening. Actions speak louder than words, as they say. And I'm an action kind of gal." Stalking forwards with her blonde hair jerking at the shoulders, the Sheriff flicked her fingers leaving a small smouldering mark on the thick carpet in front of her. The first remained a good few feet from the Mayor but the second burn moved closer, and the third erupted a few inches from her heeled boots. Dark footsteps that revealed an intention she clearly wasn't prepared for.

Staring down mutely at the marks Regina took another step away as if such a small action could stop what she had thought she could control but before she could think of something, anything to draw away the black magic inside of the other woman she felt her body dragged backwards towards the far wall. Slamming hard into the brickwork her spine screamed in jagged pain as the white paint around her arms began to coalesce and clutched at her skin, drawing her arms out and pinioning them to the wall with their rasping tongues.

She watched in confined horror as Emma moved fluidly forwards, voracious and powerful; stopping only when she stood right in front of her struggling prey. Those usually kind eyes black and round.

"So since we're playing 'I know you so well' , I was wondering...did you give my grandfather the same kind of chance you just gave me before you put that snake in his bed?"

Despite the fear pricking at her lungs, fear for herself and the younger woman in equal measure Regina refused to cower in front of the darkness that knew her so well. Instead she looked down, growling at her. "The King was a grasping son of a bitch who had no excuses for taking what he wanted other than he knew that he could."

"And I'm different?"

"You're sick." Said Regina softly.

"I'm sick?" Emma took the final step forward until her face was an inch from the other woman's and they shared the same air. "I badmouth you in public and almost fuck you against your wishes but I'm sick so morally it's ok? Interesting logic you have."

"I...I know what you're feeling," stammered her captive with a humiliating amount of desperation lacing her tone. "What this kind of power brings with it; you feel as if you're unstoppable. Beyond punishment. But it's not true Emma. The punishment comes later and it's so much more painful than you can predict."

Emma giggled at that. "Really?! Then answer me this. Gold has the power of premonition, right? And yet even with that, even knowing all about this hideous soul-destroying punishment you say comes later he chose power and darkness over love. He willingly gave himself up to this..."

The blonde clenched her hand into a fist and the glass front to the dresser next to them shattered outwards spraying the brunette with hot glass, leaving a miasma of shallow and deep cuts in the tanned skin on her left arm and neck.

Ignoring the searing pain next to her left ear, Regina couldn't help but flinch at the twisted logic on display and blinked as she tried her best to keep her eyes open.

"He's different..." she managed to get out.

But it was the worst thing she could have said.

"Oh he's different. They're _all_ different! I'm the exception!" crowed Emma reaching a hand out so that she could run a hard nail down Regina's cheek, hard enough to leave a red line in its wake and beads of crimson blood at one end. "None of the rules apply to me because I'm _special_. I'm a Charming, brimming with love and light and rainbows and kittens so ...what? I should be the good little girl from the magic wardrobe? And instead of feeling strong for once in my miserable life I should just curtsey and say thank you _so_ much but I need to go try on a ballgown now so I'm going to have to give this great opportunity a miss?"

Her face flashed with a fury that Regina knew had just as much to do with her unspoken relationship with her parents as it did with her. Maybe more. She knew that the younger woman had never taken the opportunity to actually say all the things she had wanted to say to that pair of idiots she called mother and father and now all that undeclared pain had been swallowed up by the addictive magic moving through her system. Melded with it until they became one.

Fodder and beast... A dangerous mixture.

But she couldn't stop trying. The somewhat surprising ache in her gut and the fear clawing away at her throat told her that she needed to try to save the Saviour from herself. Even if it was for reasons that weren't even clear to.

Regina tried to pull her arms away from their varnish stranglehold, tried to jerk their way out of the acidic liquid but it did no good at all. So she opened her mouth instead hoping that something a little less obvious might get through to the blonde.

"Emma, this isn't how you become strong. There's a difference between strength and power..."

The blonde had no interest though in wherever that sentence might have been going. Ignoring the comment, moving the cream collar of the Mayor's shirt to one side Emma leaned inwards and licked the skin delicately for a moment before she let out a snarl and bit down hard on the clavicle exposed in front of her.

And Regina gave a strangled cry as a new kind of hot pain filled her senses.

Her unexpected yell only seemed to urge Emma on though and she moved across to the curve of Regina's neck allowing herself to begin sucking hard at the thin patch of skin resting there.

Christ, it was getting hard to think.

"I don't want this for you," the Mayor mumbled through gritted teeth trying to tamp down the tsunami of sensations that stemmed from having those lips pressed against her skin.

"Because you're selfish and you want the memory of this power all for yourself," hissed Emma against her collarbone.

"_Henry_ wouldn't want this for you..."

For a brief moment then Emma stopped what she was doing to look upwards and the lines carved in the blonde's taut face flickered slightly. In fact her entire body hesitated at the mention of their son, her fingers lifting from soft skin below.

And Regina's heartbeat picked up at the sight.

Perhaps she really was getting through to...

But just as quickly as the pause had come the black tar covering Emma's pupils returned filling the whole of the whites with its sheen this time and replaced the moment of uncertainty with a vicious snarl that covered her whole face.

"Mention his name again and it'll be the last word that'll ever drop from your lips," said the Sheriff furiously.

"As it should be," whispered Regina slumping back against the wall.

The blonde let out a snigger at the dejection so obvious in that familiar husky voice, taking in the delicious sight of the limp body stretched out before her.

"Then let the treatment begin, Doctor," she said leaning back in again with a seductive smirk oblivious to the fact that the lights around them had begun to dim again. Closing her right hand around the exposed throat in front of her she let her fingernails dig into the skin as she slowly and wantonly choked off the other woman's air supply. "And don't worry, you'll just feel a sharp scratch..."

TBC...


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I know it's been a while since I updated this one but the urge to write another slice came upon me and well, I'm my muse's bitch...so, yeah. Also just for the record, I own none of the characters, this is purely for my own amusement and I haven't got a beta so all mistakes are mine mine mine. **

CHAPTER THREE:

"Emma, this isn't you..."

_Sfssshhh..._

The question transformed into a hiss as Regina felt jagged pain scissor into the side of her neck. A strange kind of twinge- cold and lucid and yet... despite its bite all she could seem to focus on was the bottom of the translucent vial at the corner of her vision. A hollow thing; too insidious to reflect anything but a dull orange glow from the lamps overhead.

Too out of place to make much sense.

"Oh this?"

The sting was immediately replaced by a throb; warm liquid burbling against the skin next to her throat and it was then that she realised what the sensation was.

Blood.

_Her_ blood. Being drawn out as if she were some small town waitress dropping by the blood bank after shifts end. Being harvested...for want of a better word.

She felt nauseous at the thought.

At the violation.

In fact the humiliation of it was almost worse than anything else that had happened this evening but though Regina tried not to look as a screaming drop of red trickled into the tube pressed so hard against her vein her eyes wouldn't seem to move away.

No matter how she commanded them.

"Rumple really shouldn't have spread it around how powerful those tears were that he got from you," said Emma then with a half smile, staring at the struggling brunette. "Makes you wonder doesn't it...if the tears of a monster hold _such_ influence then a little blood...well, a little blood must be worth its weight in..." She grinned feverishly and bit her lip. "Well...gold."

A hot flush flooded her system.

The brunette tried again to jerk her head away from the newly roaring sting rippling up into her temple but the hand gripping her chin held firm and she was forced to stay there staring at the grim fascination written on the Sheriff's face.

Almost gleeful. Curious too and pathetically superior.

And so _very_ familiar from her own past.

Before she could say anything more though the frigid pressure lessened then stopped completely and Emma somehow managed to cap the vial with her right hand, shoving the thing deep into her pocket.

"Is that it then? You got what you came for?" she ground out.

The blonde took a half step back.

"Says the woman who just forced me to stay here when I begged you not to?"

Regina opened her mouth to respond but whatever words had been about to come out froze on her tongue.

Because Emma was right. As chaotic and out of control as she was, Regina had brought this on herself, no matter how... _noble_ her intentions.

_What a concept, _she thought wildly.

It was true. She could have let the blonde go, bought herself a little time to take stock of everything that was going on and maybe come up with some kind of solution to the nightmare they were both caught in. But she hadn't.

She'd gone with gut instinct. Emotion.

The twisted, childish instincts that had led her down the very path the Sheriff was just setting foot on now. And of anyone in this damn small town, she should have known better.

Regina almost snorted.

_So this is what happens when you try to be the bigger person..._

"Hey!"

A loud snap of fingers an inch from her nose suddenly brought Regina out of her deliberations to find a very angry blonde scowling at her.

"I'm sorry am I boring you?"

Her stomach pulsed. "No...I was..."

Two hands shoved Regina's shoulders back against the wall and the resultant tide of pain slid smoothly up her spine. Caressing the throbbing at her neck.

"What did I say about talking back?" growled the younger woman.

And that threw the Mayor for a moment.

Her mind wheeled clumsily, searching for any scraps of a conversation between the two of them that had mentioned such a thing but even the cursory recap of tonight's events she could remember yielded nothing that even came close to...

"I'm the grown up here and you do as I say."

_What?_

"Say it."

Regina blinked unsteadily at the change in the blonde's tone of voice.

Then the pad of a thumb was pressed unceremoniously against the slicing puncture wound underneath her ear and a whimper wormed its way out of her lips.

"Say it or you get to go to bed with no dinner..."

She swallowed. "Emma I..."

"Say it goddamnit, I don't talk for my own amusement!"

A flash of teeth erupted in her vision and something about the cold carnal expression on the other woman's face seemed to trip a switch in her brain. Something she'd read in all those closed adoption case files she'd dug up when Emma Swan had first sauntered into town.

There had been page upon page of reports of course- county psychologist's updates. Parental statements from all of the couples she'd been placed with. Nothing damning. Nothing obvious but small phrases and injuries that had caught her attention at the time. Slap marks on the back of her knees..._probably from school tussles_. A continuous progression of weight loss over the eight months she'd been placed in Hoboken...put down to a growth spurt and new found interest in track. All plausible and yet...even she had thought the conclusions had been spurious. A little too pat.

Too easy to ignore.

And now it began to make sense. The dark power in Emma's bloodstream seemed to be snaking through her nerve endings and tapping into her memories; the ones she associated with authority and fear. The ones that had made her feel small. The ones where she had looked into the eyes of someone who held all the power; who'd probably seemed like a God to a girl who was ten, eleven, twelve years old.

The memories she'd probably never told a single soul about.

Regina's heart cracked a little as so many small insignificant things began to come into focus about the Sheriff; how she had acted since walking across the town line.

But Regina also knew from hard won experience that pity only stoked those fires, making them burn all the brighter. Sympathy was just about the worst possible thing she could offer.

And she knew then what she had to do. To try and curb this before it escalated into an inferno. Inside her chest, she could feel her heart-rate rocketing even as she straightened her spine but it wasn't going to stop her.

Not now that she had a plan.

Of sorts.

Pulling herself up to her full height, Regina stopped resisting the brute force holding her down and gazed at her attacker unflinchingly.

"So that's that all it takes then?"

Emma frowned at her but didn't move.

"...To become the bully? A little magic overload and you turn into the one person you never wanted to be? How...disappointing."

The blonde almost laughed but her eyes began to narrow revealing the anger underneath.

"Really? Cod psychology Regina?" She sneered moving her face closer. "Isn't that a bit of a cheap play for a former queen?"

"It's not cod Pyschology dear when you've played all roles to all people. It's experience. And experience trumps most things in this world."

The Mayor steeled herself for what was to come and jutted her chin forward. "And you should know just for the record that I was _ever_ so good when it came to terrorizing and intimidating."

Emma faltered just for a second. Imperceptibly. But then that smug grin appeared on her face again. "So how am I doing, Obi-Wan?"

Regina matched her smirk although it felt rigid on her face.

"You seem to be a little back and forth, to be quite honest Miss Swan. Like your hearts not really in it."

Just for a second a dangerous light flared in those green eyes before Emma slammed an arm against her neck. "Is that so? Maybe I need to try harder then."

"Is that what they used to tell you? To try harder?"

The weight on her throat gave her reply a gravelly edge but Regina held her ground pinning the younger woman with a resolute gaze even as her throat burned.

"You understand that you'll never be able to try hard enough don't you?" She grimaced as the pressure increased and the nostrils so close to her own nose flared but forged on. "That's the secret they don't tell you. When it comes to power you keep it wrapped up hard like a stone in your chest and you don't share it; you simply make people think you will. That's the game."

Regina's smile dropped. "And you're losing it."

She hadn't meant for that to sound quite so ambiguous but the other woman snarled at the implications of the comment and drew her elbow closer in letting the round bone meet flesh.

"I know what you're doing. You're trying to play me. You've always tried to play me. And in the past I figured why not, even though the deck was stacked in your favour. But now..." She pulled in a breath. "Now I hold all the cards."

"Cards being fists I take it. And the one with the biggest fists wins," murmured Regina. "Is that it?"

"Sad but true."

"It doesn't have to be."

Emma pulled back an inch. "You know what's strange though?"

No answer came from the brunette as she tried desperately to rebuild her strategy to deal with the ever-changing conversation she'd started but apparently Emma wasn't really expecting one because that crooked smile was firmly back in place.

"How familiar it feels. This power."

"Overwhelming?" stuttered her captive and the Sheriff grabbed then slammed her wrist into the wall with a growl. "No! Listen to what I'm saying- you never listen to me!"

Regina felt the fragile bones in her right forearm screech but she fought to keep the accompanying scream from falling from her mouth. Fought to keep all the other things contained too; all the pathetic warnings and attempts at reassurance she so desperately wanted to offer the other woman.

But she could see from the dark halo around the blonde's usually azure eyes that she wasn't in a place to hear them. She was somewhere else; caught in an underground cell made of earth. A place where echoes didn't even dare to go.

"As complimentary as it is you thinking that I find most things in life overwhelming what I meant was how much it tastes like..._desire_."

The brunette's attention snapped back.

"That got your attention huh?" Emma hummed lazily to herself as pulled her arm from the throat in front of her and let the fingers of her left hand skirt the underside of Regina's ribs. "Not a concept you were expecting from someone you though learned about passion in the back seat of a hotwired car?"

"Emma I didn't assume..."

She didn't have to finish the sentence. They both knew that however it finished it would be a lie. An understandable one but a lie nonetheless.

"Uh uh. You know what they say about assuming Madame Mayor," said Emma tutting. "...It makes an ass of me and makes you a megolamaniacal ex-bitch with anger issues and a hotline to the town council." Emma smirked at her. "I'm paraphrasing of course. But perhaps for once you can shut that pretty mouth of yours and maybe I'll try and explain myself."

Suddenly Emma nose wrinkled up as if she was about to sneeze; it was almost oddly endearing but the dark streak in Emma's left eye and brief tingle in the air should have warned the brunette that something magical was afoot. Before she knew it Regina felt her body being pulled through the air. Not thrown like before but dragged scraping against the air, painfully and inexpertly as if the spell hammered against nature's rules rather than bending them.

Emma.

_Oh God._

For all her power she had no idea how to wield it except through brute force, twisting the natural elements around them with her will alone. Regina didn't even have time to wonder what kind of cost that might accrue before everything around her coalesced in a parade of greys and granite and she found herself covered in a fine layer of dust as a wave of nausea hit. She fell to her knees unceremoniously.

"Welcome home, your Majesty."

Regina lifted her head a little at that and finally took in her surroundings with queasy concern. The lines and squares she knew every inch of. Every crack.

Her crypt.

Her sanctuary.

At least until today.

Emma loomed over her with dark eyes as she glanced up, hands resting firmly on her hips.

"After all home is where the hearts are, right?"

**TBC... **


End file.
